Melo, Nuggets, Talking Extension

Marc Stein's new report for ESPN.com is sure to delight Nuggets fans, as the veteran NBA scribe writes that Nuggets franchise small forward Carmelo Anthony is "eager to secure his future" with Denver and is negotiating a contract extension via his agent, Leon Rose:

The Denver Nuggets and Carmelo Anthony are making significant progress on a contract extension that would result in Anthony landing a new contract this offseason along with fellow 2003 draftees LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. [....]

A three-year max extension worth more than $60 million could be announced within days of Thursday's draft, sources said. Another source estimated the timetable at "a couple of weeks."

The report should at least quell fans' fears of losing Anthony next summer. He sounds committed to Denver, and as Stein points out, it would behoove him to sign an extension now, under the current collective bargaining agreement, rather than wait and be subject to a drastically lower salary under the next one.